z/XDC Functionality

z/XDC makes IBM's z/OS-based Assembler, C/C++ and Metal C languages easier to work with and understand. Using z/XDC, programmers can effectively find and fix bugs in programs running in nearly any z/OS programming environment: authorized or nonauthorized, multitasking or single tasking, batch, TSO, or CICS, system exit or product exit, SVC routine or PC routine.

"With z/XDC, you have complete control of your program and its environment"

With z/XDC, you can see your program and its data structures exactly as you originally coded them. If you see a bug, z/XDC makes it easy for you to fix it. If you want to flip a flag or change a gate, no problem. If you want to try out a variation in your program, you can do it. Within the limits of system security, you have complete control of your program and its environment.

z/XDC presents you with a great deal of useful information without having to expend a great deal of effort. It helps you to think strategically about the problem at hand without being encumbered by the drudgery of dump outputs and hex arithmetic.

"With z/XDC, you can interactively debug your programs in real time"

With z/XDC, you can interactively debug your programs in real time. You can change code, alter data fields, zap register values, and control your program's PSW. You can load and delete modules, issue GETMAINs and FREEMAINs, and even post Event Control Blocks. z/XDC provides easy to use but comprehensive support for displaying your control blocks formatted, labeled, and even commented, field by field. In addition, z/XDC provides pre-formatted maps for over 1300 z/OS system control blocks. z/XDC enables you to work effectively either with raw, disassembled object code or formatted Assembler code displays, complete with statement labels and even your program's original commentary.

Out of the Box

Base z/XDC consists of all the program development support that ColeSoft has spent over 40 years building.

With no modifications, z/XDC gives you:

Point-and-shoot disassembly

Point-and-shoot memory display

DISPLAY and FORMAT commands for looking at arbitrary storage

The ability to LIST key system structures

The ability to FIND hex or character data

Full source-statement support

The ability to investigate other address spaces

z/XDC has LIST commands that easily display many important structures within any system or user address (security permitting):

PSWs (Program Status Words),

registers,

linkage stacks,

request block queues,

multitasking,

maps,

and much more

You can learn more about many of these features and others in our Training Videos.

Trapping and Tracing

For trapping, z/XDC offers four kinds of breakpoints, including deferred breakpoints and conditional breakpoints. For tracing, there are five distinct ways to step through your code. z/XDC allows you to trap execution based on conditional statements, and allows the association of other commands with breakpoints and traces. With z/XDC, you can make ad hoc changes and perform "what if" scenarios very easily.

You can learn more about using trapping and tracing in z/XDC in our educational video for Marist College, on the Training Videos page.

Comprehensive Help System

z/XDC has a comprehensive built-in HELP system. The in-program documentation has useful, tool-based knowledge that not only teaches you to understand the product but also provides you with sophisticated knowledge of the z/OS Operating System itself, so that you can make your debugging sessions as effective and productive as possible. You can learn more about using the built-in Help in z/XDC in our training powerpoint "Getting Help in z/XDC", on the Training Presentations page.